Culture This article is about culture as used in the social sciences and humanities. For uses in the natural sciences, see cell culture and tissue culture. For other uses, see Culture (disambiguation) . Culture ( / kʌ l tʃər/ , from Latin : cultura, lit. cultivation [1] ) is a concept based on a term first used in classical antiquity by the Roman orator Cicero: cultura animi (cultivation of the soul). This non- agricultural use of the term culture re- appeared in modern Europe in the 17th century referring to the betterment or refinement of individuals, especially through education . During the 18th and 19th century it came to refer more frequently to the common reference points of whole peoples, and discussion of the term was often connected to national aspirations or ideals. Some scientists such as Edward Tylor used the term culture to refer to a universal human capacity. In the 20th century, culture emerged as a central concept in anthropology , encompassing the range of human phenomena that cannot be directly attributed to genetic inheritance. Specifically, the term culture in American anthropology had two meanings: 1. the evolved human capacity to classify and represent experiences with symbols, and to act imaginatively and creatively; and 2. the distinct ways that people, who live differently, classified and represented their experiences, and acted creatively. [2] Hoebel describes culture as an integrated system of learned behavior patterns which are characteristic of the members of a society and which are not a result of biological inheritance. [3] Distinctions are currently made between the physical artifacts created by a society, its so-called material culture, and everything else, [4] the intangibles such as language, customs, etc. that are the main referent of the term culture. Etymology The modern term culture is based on a term used by the Ancient Roman orator Cicero in his Tusculanae Disputationes, where he wrote of a cultivation of the soul or cultura animi ,[5] using an agricultural metaphor for the development of a philosophical soul, understood teleologically as the highest possible ideal for human development. Samuel Pufendorf took over this metaphor in a modern context, meaning something similar, but no longer assuming that philosophy was mans natural perfection. His use, and that of many writers after him refers to all the ways in which human beings overcome their original barbarism, and through artifice, become fully human . [6] As described by Velkley: [6] Change A 19th-century engraving showing Australian natives opposing the arrival of Captain James Cook in 1770 Cultural invention has come to mean any innovation that is new and found to be useful to a group of people and expressed in their behavior but which does not exist as a physical object. Humanity is in a global accelerating culture change period, driven by the expansion of international commerce, the mass media, and above all, the human population explosion, among other factors. Cultures are internally affected by both forces encouraging change and forces resisting change. These forces are related to both social structures and natural events, and are involved in the perpetuation of cultural ideas and practices within current structures, which themselves are subject to change. [7] (See structuration .) Social conflict and the development of technologies can produce changes within a society by altering social dynamics and promoting new cultural models, and spurring or enabling generative action. These social shifts may accompany ideological shifts and other types of cultural change. For example, the U.S. feminist movement involved new practices that produced a shift in gender relations, altering both gender and economic structures. Environmental conditions may also enter as factors. For example, after tropical forests returned at the end of the last ice age , plants suitable for domestication were available, leading to the invention of agriculture, which in turn brought about many cultural innovations and shifts in social dynamics. [8] Full-length profile portrait of Turkman woman, standing on a carpet at the entrance to a yurt, dressed in traditional clothing and jewelry Cultures are externally affected via contact between societies, which may also produce —or inhibit—social shifts and changes in cultural practices. War or competition over resources may impact technological development or social dynamics. Additionally, cultural ideas may transfer from one society to another, through diffusion or acculturation. In diffusion , the form of something (though not necessarily its meaning) moves from one culture to another. For example, hamburgers , fast food in the United States, seemed exotic when introduced into China. Stimulus diffusion (the sharing of ideas) refers to an element of one culture leading to an invention or propagation in another. Direct Borrowing on the other hand tends to refer to technological or tangible diffusion from one culture to another. Diffusion of innovations theory presents a research- based model of why and when individuals and cultures adopt new ideas, practices, and products. Acculturation has different meanings, but in this context refers to replacement of the traits of one culture with those of another, such as what happened to certain Native American tribes and to many indigenous peoples across the globe during the process of colonization. Related processes on an individual level include assimilation (adoption of a different culture by an individual) and transculturation. Early modern discourses German Romanticism Johann Herder called attention to national cultures. The German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) has formulated an individualist definition of enlightenment similar to the concept of bildung: Enlightenment is mans emergence from his self-incurred immaturity. [9] He argued that this immaturity comes not from a lack of understanding, but from a lack of courage to think independently. Against this intellectual cowardice, Kant urged: Sapere aude , Dare to be wise! In reaction to Kant, German scholars such as Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803) argued that human creativity, which necessarily takes unpredictable and highly diverse forms, is as important as human rationality. Moreover, Herder proposed a collective form of bildung: For Herder, Bildung was the totality of experiences that provide a coherent identity, and sense of common destiny, to a people. [10] Adolf Bastian developed a universal model of culture. In 1795, the great linguist and philosopher Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767–1835) called for an anthropology that would synthesize Kants and Herders interests. During the Romantic era , scholars in Germany, especially those concerned with nationalist movements—such as the nationalist struggle to create a Germany out of diverse principalities, and the nationalist struggles by ethnic minorities against the Austro- Hungarian Empire—developed a more inclusive notion of culture as worldview ( Weltanschauung). According to this school of thought, each ethnic group has a distinct worldview that is incommensurable with the worldviews of other groups. Although more inclusive than earlier views, this approach to culture still allowed for distinctions between civilized and primitive or tribal cultures. In 1860, Adolf Bastian (1826–1905) argued for the psychic unity of mankind. He proposed that a scientific comparison of all human societies would reveal that distinct worldviews consisted of the same basic elements. According to Bastian, all human societies share a set of elementary ideas ( Elementargedanken); different cultures, or different folk ideas ( Völkergedanken), are local modifications of the elementary ideas. [11] This view paved the way for the modern understanding of culture. Franz Boas (1858– 1942) was trained in this tradition, and he brought it with him when he left Germany for the United States. English Romanticism British poet and critic Matthew Arnold viewed culture as the cultivation of the humanist ideal. In the 19th century, humanists such as English poet and essayist Matthew Arnold (1822–1888) used the word culture to refer to an ideal of individual human refinement, of the best that has been thought and said in the world. [12] This concept of culture is comparable to the German concept of bildung: ...culture being a pursuit of our total perfection by means of getting to know, on all the matters which most concern us, the best which has been thought and said in the world. [12] In practice, culture referred to an élite ideal and was associated with such activities as art , classical music, and haute cuisine. [13] As these forms were associated with urban life, culture was identified with civilization (from lat. civitas , city). Another facet of the Romantic movement was an interest in folklore, which led to identifying a culture among non-elites. This distinction is often characterized as that between high culture, namely that of the ruling social group, and low culture. In other words, the idea of culture that developed in Europe during the 18th and early 19th centuries reflected inequalities within European societies. [14] British anthropologist Edward Tylor was one of the first English-speaking scholars to use the term culture in an inclusive and universal sense. Matthew Arnold contrasted culture with anarchy ; other Europeans, following philosophers Thomas Hobbes and Jean- Jacques Rousseau, contrasted culture with the state of nature. According to Hobbes and Rousseau, the Native Americans who were being conquered by Europeans from the 16th centuries on were living in a state of nature; this opposition was expressed through the contrast between civilized and uncivilized. According to this way of thinking, one could classify some countries and nations as more civilized than others and some people as more cultured than others. This contrast led to Herbert Spencer s theory of Social Darwinism and Lewis Henry Morgans theory of cultural evolution . Just as some critics have argued that the distinction between high and low cultures is really an expression of the conflict between European elites and non- elites, some critics have argued that the distinction between civilized and uncivilized people is really an expression of the conflict between European colonial powers and their colonial subjects. Other 19th-century critics, following Rousseau have accepted this differentiation between higher and lower culture, but have seen the refinement and sophistication of high culture as corrupting and unnatural developments that obscure and distort peoples essential nature. These critics considered folk music (as produced by the folk, i.e., rural, illiterate, peasants) to honestly express a natural way of life, while classical music seemed superficial and decadent. Equally, this view often portrayed indigenous peoples as noble savages living authentic and unblemished lives, uncomplicated and uncorrupted by the highly stratified capitalist systems of the West . In 1870 the anthropologist Edward Tylor (1832–1917) applied these ideas of higher versus lower culture to propose a theory of the evolution of religion. According to this theory, religion evolves from more polytheistic to more monotheistic forms. [15] In the process, he redefined culture as a diverse set of activities characteristic of all human societies. This view paved the way for the modern understanding o
Posted on: Tue, 23 Sep 2014 17:52:33 +0000
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